Libya–Welcome to the Post-Gaddafi era

Thousands of people, including women and children, are being illegally detained by rebel militias in Libya, according to a report by the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Many of the prisoners are suffering torture and systematic mistreatment while being held in private jails outside the control of the country’s new government.

The document, seen by The Independent, states that while political prisoners being held by the Gaddafi regime have been released, their places have been taken by up to 7,000 new “enemies of the state”, "disappeared" in a dysfunctional system, with no recourse to the law.

Now I know the apologists for the “new” government will say this is all part of the transition from one era to the next. But in fact it is not. It is Libya. It is now completely dysfunctional, not partially. And there are no wonderful democratic traditions and institutions to pull it out of the morass either.

Instead, it has devolved into a land area in which tribal feuding is in full swing and armed militias now rule.

Ban Ki-moon also presents a grim scenario of the growing power of the armed militias that control of the streets of many towns, including those of the capital, Tripoli, and the settling of internecine feuds through gun battles resulting in deaths and injuries.

Meanwhile the lawlessness has resulted in the vast majority of the police force not being able to return to work. In the few places where they have been back on duty under experienced officers, such as Tripoli, their role has been restricted largely to directing traffic.

[…]

The scope of escalating strife, inside the country as well as the wider region, is highlighted by the caches of weapons abandoned by the regime and subsequently looted. These include shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles, known as Manpads, capable of bringing down commercial airliners.

[…]

The report says that “while political prisoners held by the Gaddafi regime have been released, an estimated 7,000 detainees are currently held in prisons and makeshift detention centres, most of which are under the control of revolutionary brigades, with no access to due process in the absence of a functioning police and judiciary.”

Of particular worry was the fate of women being held for alleged links with the regime, often due to family connections, sometimes with their children locked up alongside them.

“There have also been reports of women held in detention in the absence of female guards and under male supervision, and of children detained alongside adults,” says the report.

A number of black Africans were lynched following the revolution following claims, often false, that they were hired guns for the Gaddafi regime. The city of Tawerga, mainly comprised of residents originally from sub-Saharan countries, was largely destroyed by rebel fighters from neighbouring Misrata. The port city had withstood a prolonged and brutal siege in the hands of the regime forces during which, it is claimed, fighters from Tawerga were particularly aggressive and brutal.

The report says that ”sub-Saharan Africans, in some cases accused or suspected of being mercenaries, constitute a large number of the detainees. Some detainees have reportedly been subjected to torture and ill treatment. Cases have been reported of individuals being targeted because of the colour of their skin.”

The document continues: “Tawergas are reported to have been targeted in revenge killings, or taken by armed men from their homes, checkpoints and hospitals, and some allegedly later abused or executed in detention. Members of the community have fled to various cities across Libya.”

Wonderful stuff. Just gets your freedom and liberty loving bones stirring doesn’t it? Loaded with weapons and with scores to settle, militias are now out and about carrying out whatever orders the tribal leaders have decided are necessary.

That’s democracy, right? Not to mention enough weapons looted to threaten regional security even more than it already has, many of which will most likely reach the hands of Hezbollah and Hamas.

Now. I am about to say something really horrible, but bear with me. I think this is good. I also wish that Egypt devolves into the same situation.

How can I say something so terrible? Well, it is a purely selfish calculation, I believe that there can be no real peace between a backward totalitarian Islam and the modern western democratic freedom oriented state.

But Islam is only a real threat when Muslims are united behind a strong leader. Their natural state is tribalism, which means that they are only a threat to themselves and their immediate neighbors.

If the entire middle east devolved into tribalistic fiefdoms we would all be better off. Next on the list ought to be to destabilize Iran so that it also collapses. Although the Persian culture has a bit more resilience than Arab culture.

How many lessons in the abuse of power, and the destruction of foolish hopes based on nothing more than whimsey do you suppose we’ll have to have before enough of them understand the election of “The One” did not mark the beginning of the age of Aquarius.

Looker, That kind of nonsense will never end, since there is always at least a few true believers in the crowd. What we’re really talking about here at least in part…is the difference between a pure democracy and a constitutional Republic. Just because somebody has the ability to vote, doesn’t mean that they’re going to vote for freedom.

What we’re seeing here, is the result of people who think that the structure of government alone is what creates freedom.

As I said some years ago, culture is the biggest mover, not government. Think;

1: Who invented the concept of government?

2: What purpose would that entity have had in such creation?

One way we can answer those two questions at once, would be to look at what existed as the most powerful force before government was invented, and therefore what was the most likely inventor of government: CULTURE.

If we make the logical assumption that governments were originally created by the individual cultures, then it follows that each culture constructed their respective governments in their own image… governments that best reflected and advanced each culture’s interests.

The original purpose of government, therefore, is to protect, nurture and defend, and if possible expand the influence of, the culture that gave it life. As such, to the greatest of degrees possible, each government’s laws, on the whole, were the culture, codified. It follows, then, that any government holding to the original purpose of government will perform this task.

Clearly, freedom is not high on the agenda in countries where Sharia is the law of the land. and we have seen how such governments try to expand their influence.

As Kyle suggests, this would be a good thing if we allowed social/cultural Darwinism to take over. The problem is, are shortsighted foreign policy has us treating these morons like equals.

Did I say All things? I’m sorry, they don’t perceive conservatives to be equal, just different. We’re evil, and dangerous, and even though we’re fellow countrymen, we deserve less respect for our different ideas than fundamentalist religious nut jobs in lands where stoning women is a part of their different but equal life style.

@Harun If they were eager to replace their dictatorship with something equaling even medium freedom I’d have a tremendous amount of respect for them. If they were behaving like the Poles of the 80’s I’d be behind them 100%. But it strikes me that the man in the street merely wants to replace the military dictatorship with a dictatorship closer to his own liking. Having seen that particular scenario played out throughout the world for the majority of my life time, it leaves me with little slack to cut them. The fact they can still mass enough people to abuse the Copts in the midst of their revolution is not a positive sign.

If they come out of it, and the first words out of their mouths are “all men are created equal”, rather then “death to the Jewish dogs!, death to the Infidels! Allah Akbar!” it will help tremendously.